It took me a while to get into the rhythm of this book, but once I was in its grips I absolutely fell hard for it. The premise alone should grab you (a girl is inhabited by the ghost of a bear in the midst of the English Civil War, I mean come on, its so good!) but Hardinge's writing and vivid, memorable characters is what kept me going. The combination of humor and darkness reminded me closely of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and obviously I can offer few things higher praise than that.